A former spokesman for Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Laolu Akande, has called on former President Olusegun Obasanjo to refrain from ridiculing other leaders.
Akande made this statement in response to Obasanjo’s recent remark, where he described President Bola Tinubu as “baba go-slow.”
Akande’s comments followed Obasanjo’s lecture at the Chinua Achebe Leadership Forum at Yale University, where he criticized the 2023 general elections, labeling them a “travesty.”
Obasanjo had said, “As we can see and understand, Nigeria’s situation is bad. The more the immorality and corruption of a nation, the more the nation sinks into chaos, insecurity, conflict, discord, division, disunity, depression, youth restiveness, confusion, violence, and underdevelopment. That’s the situation mostly in Nigeria in the reign of Baba-go-slow and Emilokan. The failing state status of Nigeria is confirmed and glaringly indicated and manifested for every honest person to see through the consequences of the level of our pervasive corruption, mediocrity, immorality, misconduct, mismanagement, perversion, injustice, incompetence and all other forms of iniquity. But yes, there is hope
Obasanjo also accused the Independent National Electoral Commission of compromising the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System.
During a discussion on Channels TV’s Inside Sources, Akande highlighted that Nigeria’s political challenges stem from a deeper leadership crisis.
He emphasized that former leaders, such as Obasanjo, should focus on addressing the nation’s leadership issues rather than mocking sitting presidents. Akande pointed out that the country’s political instability is rooted in systemic leadership problems that require urgent attention.
He said: “On #InsideSources yesterday, we took the view during the segment- MY TAKE that former presidents such as General Obasanjo should do better than merely making jest of other presidents.
“The Nigerian situation suffers from political leadership challenges, but even more serious is the deeper problem that itself produces the political leadership challenges.”